The Detroit News. April 26, 2018
Make lawmakers disclose conflicts
How ethically challenged is the Michigan Legislature? So much so that lawmakers face only minimal requirements for reporting conflicts of interest, and even when they do, they still can vote on bills from which they may benefit.
A Center for Public Integrity analysis found a half-dozen instances where Michigan lawmakers voted on bills even after publicly disclosing they had a conflict of interest.
The penalties for doing so are almost non-existent, and are never imposed.
The state Senate bans members from voting on measures in which they have a private or professional stake. A violation can get a member expelled, but it seems to have never happened, and there are no provisions for criminal charges.
The House allows members to decide for themselves whether to reveal a conflict, and doesn’t prevent them from voting on the legislation even if they do disclose.
This is not a system that works to assure the public that its lawmakers are operating above board and only for the good of their constituents.
The analysis comes just weeks after the Legislature’s similarly puny restrictions on lawmaker travel became an issue when it was learned House Speaker Tom Leonard, R-DeWitt, took a trip to London paid for by a third party.
As reported then, it is perfectly acceptable under Michigan’s rules for a legislator to take such trips as long as they aren’t lobbied by the group or individual paying for the travel.
Leonard contends he didn’t have to report the London visit because he wasn’t lobbied, even though he attended functions with lobbyists for industries that have business before the Legislature.
No wonder Michigan earns an “F’’ grade for its ethics laws governing public officials.
Rep. Scott Dianda, D-Calumet, introduced a bill that would make voting on legislation when a conflict of interest exists a felony carrying a fine of up to $5,000 and four years in prison.
That might get lawmakers’ attention and better focus their awareness of potential conflicts.
It’s a long-shot bill; there’s been no appetite in this Republican-controlled Legislature for derailing the gravy train.
And even if it were to move, the language would have to be very specific to assure that a lawmaker doesn’t land in court for inadvertent conflicts. Left too vague, it could become a political “gotcha” tool.
But imposing clear ethics rules that carry stiff penalties for violations is an essential step.
As Craig Mauger, executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, told The Detroit News, “Right now it’s on the lawmaker to police themselves.”
Michigan needs to build more accountability and transparency into its ethical safeguards.
Lawmakers should not be taking trips, dinners and gifts from third parties, and if they do, at the least they should be required to give a detailed accounting of who paid, and why.
And they certainly shouldn’t be voting on bills from which they stand to profit.
Each time another hole is disclosed in Michigan’s embarrassing ethics rules citizens lose a bit more confidence in the integrity of the Legislature.
Moving Michigan from worst in the nation to first in terms of ethical standards should be a priority of the Legislature.
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Times Herald (Port Huron). April 25, 2018
Maybe Boat Week doesn’t need help
Although we have every confidence that Port Huron recreation and the DDA will produce an outstanding Blue Water Fest, even on short notice, we can’t help but ask the same question as everyone else: Why? Recent efforts to impose order on Boat Week have always felt like a campaign to wedge a square peg into a round hole.
But Boat Week and its various landmarks are relatively new inventions themselves - although it took almost three quarters of a century before they happened. The ancient tradition of the Boat Night party, for instance, didn’t really take off until the 1960s and 70s. The term “Boat Night” wasn’t even used before about 1983. Before that, it was sometimes called “Race Night.” The “new tradition” of Family Night got a name only a few years after Boat Night.
But by then Boat Night was huge. It might not be an entirely reliable gauge, but police estimated that as many as 100,000 people flooded downtown Port Huron’s streets, waterfront and bars for Boat Night in the late 1980s. The estimate may have been exaggerated, but the success of Boat Night and its impact on downtown was not.
And all that happened without anyone lining up bands to play in parking lots, without fences and security guards, without donations of canned goods or even a lighted boat parade. It even happened without an area officially designated where booze could be consumed openly and without competing beer tents.
Police get blamed for the demise of Boat Night. That would be no more logical than blaming police for the demise of regional shopping malls. People and their interests change, and some proportion of those 100,000 people found something else to occupy themselves on a steamy summer night in July.
More than 120 officers, from departments everywhere, were downtown for Boat Night in the late 1980s, and they probably poured out more beer in those years than at any time since. Something else caused attendance to wane in the past couple of decades.
In response, city officials brought in professional help. Unfortunately, the professional promoter arranged bands, lined up beer vendors, threw up fences, and irritated everyone from local service groups to people who simply wanted to get from one side of downtown to the other. Meanwhile, so far as we could see, nobody much listened to the bands anyway.
The real party was strolling the docks, meeting old and new friends and perhaps sharing a libation. And perhaps that is the only party we need. It worked just fine like that for six or seven decades.
Bring back the local service groups and their sausage sandwiches to the West Quay lot, give the bar owners back their Black Friday, rely on the police to enforce the rules, and let the party be the party.
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Traverse City Record-Eagle. April 26, 2018
A little competition is a very good thing
Candidate participation in the race for the Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners is hot and heavy - 20 people are vying for seven seats. That overwhelming interest suggests the local democratic process is running strong.
But interest in serving the public as an elected official appears decidedly weaker in other places in northwest Lower Michigan.
The races in three of seven Kalkaska County elected seats already are over - four months before the August primary. Only a single candidate filed in each of those districts.
Kalkaska’s Districts 1 and 2 each registered three candidates for seats on the county board, two Republicans and one Democrat. Districts 4 and 6 registered two candidates, one Democrat and one Republican each.
Up in Antrim County, two of the nine county board seat races each attracted a pair of candidates. Seven of Antrim’s board seats already are determined. The other two will be decided in August when the Republican candidates square off. November’s general election is likely to be pretty quiet in Antrim.
In Grand Traverse County, no one put their hat in the ring for Peninsula Township Park Commissioner, or for a Union Township Trustee seat.
The electoral process works best when people run for office. The process breaks down when few people throw their hats in the ring. It’s not much of a race when the crowd gathers to watch a lone competitor amble down the racecourse.
Elections are meant to give voters choices.
It’s encouraging to witness so many people stepping up to the plate to take a shot at batting for the residents of Grand Traverse County. The county has had it’s share of challenges the last couple of years. The election process should generate new ideas as candidates debate how we can tackle those issues. That’s the beauty of free elections. Candidates interact with each other and with the public. We talk about shared problems and solutions. We move forward.
Debates can’t happen when only a single candidate signs up for a local race.
These are challenging times on the national political scene, times when arguments seem to outnumber discussions, when too many leaders consider “compromise” a dirty word.
Reluctance to bear the emotional weight of that divisiveness - both during a campaign and during a term in office - may be one reason so few people registered as candidates for some local offices. And that’s a shame. We need more people willing to devote energy to political office for the good of their neighbors.
Grand Traverse County voters may hear some interesting discussions in the next few months as 20 candidates vie for their votes.
Those unopposed candidates in Antrim and Kalkaska counties deserve praise, too. They’re stepping up to perform local public service, to make decisions they hope will prove good for the local populace.
It’s just too bad that their district constituents likely won’t learn much about local issues this election season because the lone candidate won the race before it even started.
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Midland Daily News. April 27, 2018
Fighting back against addiction
In June, the Midland Police and Midland County Sheriff’s Office will be offering a new program - Hope Not Handcuffs - to fight back against drug addiction.
They will join 10 area agencies that are trying to get people who are hooked on drugs to change their cycle of addiction and seek help.
Substance abuse happens sometimes quite accidentally and innocently, following medical treatment of an injury or accident, and people end up hooked on narcotics prescribed to treat pain.
No matter how you got hooked on drugs, law enforcement and health professionals know there is a path to take to overcome the addiction. And, it doesn’t have to involve a criminal record, time in jail, a ruined work record and a ruined personal life.
It can involve seeking professional help through Hope Not Handcuffs.
“This program allows a person struggling with addiction to come to a participating police department and ask for help,” said Lori Ziolkowski, vice present of Great Lakes Bay Region Families Against Narcotics. “This is not a gotcha program. Our goal is to get people the medical treatment they need.”
Midland Police Community Relations Sgt. Chris Wenzell said the program will be open 24/7 at the Midland Law Enforcement Center.
“Anybody can come into the station any time. We’ll make arrangements for an angel to come and meet with that person and we’ll get them the help that they need.”
An angel is a volunteer who is trained how to provide support and how to get the ball rolling for professional help.
Authorities believe the program can make a significant difference. It was implemented in five Michigan communities last year, and assisted 1,176 people into recovery.
The announcement of the Midland program was made in a media conference Wednesday afternoon at Delta College, and featured a representative of the different agencies - including Saginaw Police, Saginaw Township Police, the Bay and Saginaw county sheriff’s offices, Bay City Police, Essexville Public Safety, Pinconning Police and Hampton Police.
For more information about the program, go to www.familiesagainstnarcotics.org/hopenothandcuffs.
It is encouraging to see Midland County take this step to fight against drug abuse. We trust we will have more than enough volunteers for the program, and plenty of community awareness to spread the word that there is a way to beat drugs that does not involve handcuffs.
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